Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Thus, when Jesus unleashed an entirely new brand of preaching, it was with authority and persons who were disposed to believe would then be sure of the doctrine. Jesus used everyday references that persons could readily relate to for they were familiar with all of the illustrations He used, and His methods of teaching, as a general rule, would lead to a definite change of heart, in persons who were willing to receive Him.
Sermons and presentations are not so much about information, as they are about The Person of Christ, and thus, when preaching or giving Bible studies the servants of God, and the information they dispense should be Christocentric in nature. This leads us to our second observation, drawn from precedent. [2] Laymen in our day must be able to start at any verse or chapter in the Scripture, and preach Jesus to persons.
A direct link to Jesus should be made, whenever a sermon, or Bible study is given by laymen in our day, because, salvation in the Bible is about The Person of Christ; His ministry, His character, His goodness and His love. It’s not so much about information. This is what Phillip did when he was sent by God to help the Ethiopian eunuch find Christ. The man was reading from the book of Isaiah, and Phillip began with the passage he was reading, and led him to Jesus.
Acts 8:29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah and said, do you understand that which you are reading? 31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he asked Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
May God add His blessing to the study of His word. “Good night” and God bless!